


Warm Hands

by Miri1984



Category: Rusty Quill Gaming (Podcast)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-30
Updated: 2020-04-30
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:14:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23925199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miri1984/pseuds/Miri1984
Summary: A little treat!
Relationships: Hamid Saleh Haroun al-Tahan/Liliana Beecost
Comments: 1
Kudos: 17
Collections: Rusty Quill Gaming Exchange 2020





	Warm Hands

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Kalgalen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kalgalen/gifts).



Liliana wasn’t usually one for student functions. She had too much else to do, too many ongoing projects, not enough time to waste on frivolities. But the regatta was a Cambridge tradition, and Gideon had asked so politely (and he was so very tall and handsome and he smiled at her like she’d only ever seen boys smile at prettier girls, girls who didn’t have ink and chemical stains on their fingers all the time, girls who had the ability to talk about something other than the underlying principles of the evocation school of magic). 

She was beginning to regret coming, though. Because of course, Gideon was in the rowing team, and while there was something pleasant about sitting in the grass in the sunshine, watching athletic young men and women compete, he was down there, on the water or with his teammates, and she was stuck on the bank, hugging her knees, feeling out of place with no one to talk to.

She tried not to feel too upset about it. But it got boring after a while and she had work to do back at the lab and maybe if she just found one of Gideon’s friends she could tell them to tell  _ him  _ that…

“He does that, doesn’t he,” a friendly, slightly accented voice came from behind her as she stood, brushing grass from her behind, resolved to leave and find a more productive use for her time.

She turned to see a tall halfling boy - probably around her age, dark skinned, with beautiful big brown eyes that were crinkled up in a smile as he looked at her.

She recognised him as one of Gideon’s friends. She didn’t know him personally - she thought he studied Mathematics? 

“You’re Gideon’s friend, right?” she said.

He grinned (such a wide, open,  _ friendly  _ smile - it felt like he was looking right  _ at  _ her, not past her or through her like Gideon seemed to) and held out a hand.

“Hamid Saleh Haroun al-Tahan,” he said, and then gave her a little wink. “You’d be Liliana, am I right? Gideon’s told me about you.”

She felt herself flush to the roots of her hair. “Oh, has he?” she stammered, then realised she hadn’t taken his hand and did so, flustered. “Um. Yes. I’m Liliana.”

His hand was warm. So very warm and smooth and it clasped hers firmly as he leaned a little closer - not too close for propriety, but close enough that she caught a whiff of expensive cologne. 

“He’s only told me good things, I promise,” he said. “You looked lonely. Would you like some company?”

Hamid Saleh Haroun al-Tahan probably thought he was being smooth. And he was. But he was also, she realised, exactly what she needed to distract her from disgruntled thoughts about Gideon. And he did have  _ very  _ pretty eyes.

“That would be lovely,” she said, and gave him a warm smile. He flushed - difficult to see under the deep brown of his skin, but he also looked vastly pleased. 

This could, she thought, turn out to be a lovely day after all.


End file.
